San Antonio Spurs
From Hoopedia
The San Antonio Spurs are an NBA team located in San Antonio, Texas. They are the only former American Basketball Association team to have won an NBA championship, which they have done four times. They are the reigning NBA Champions, having swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2007 NBA Finals. As of November 2006, the Spurs rank second of active franchises for highest winning percentage in NBA history (behind the Los Angeles Lakers).
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Civic Pride
The Spurs are the only major professional sports franchise to be located in the San Antonio area, and the city shares a special bond with the team almost unmatched in the rest of the NBA. Spurs players are active members of the San Antonio community, and many former Spurs are still active in San Antonio, like David Robinson's Carver Academy and the George Gervin Youth Center.
In part because of this community involvement, Spurs fans have been among the most loyal in the NBA. The Spurs set several NBA attendance records while playing at the Alamodome, including the largest crowd ever for a NBA Finals game in 1999, and the Spurs continue to sell out the smaller, more intimate AT&T Center (formerly SBC Center) on a regular basis. The Spurs' rallying cry of "Go Spurs Go!" has endeared itself to the city of San Antonio, and the phrase pops up all over the city as the season progresses into the playoffs and the Spurs inch closer to a possible title.
San Antonio has also garnered praise for the way its citizens celebrate Spurs championships. When the Spurs win a title, San Antonians jam up the streets downtown, march around waving flags, throw confetti and honk car horns until dawn, but with little incidence of crime. There has yet to be a major riot involving a Spurs title celebration.
A unique part of every Spurs season comes in February when the team is forced onto an extended road-trip due to the occupation of its arena by the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. This is informally known as a time that typically starts the Spurs' run to the playoffs; indeed, starting in 1999 the Spurs have consistently posted phenomenal road records during this period, including the longest one-road-trip winning streak (8 games) in league history achieved in 2003.
Spurs History
After the American Basketball Association granted Dallas a franchise in 1967, the new club was named the Dallas Chaparrals -- a name representing the famous thickets and trees located in Texas and Mexico. (For some insights into the Dallas Chapparals first season, see Birth of a Franchise-San Antonio Spurs.)
However, in 1970 the name was changed to Texas Chaparrals, perhaps in an effort to get the whole state of Texas interested in the club. Yet only one year later, the club's name was returned to the city of Dallas.
After hundreds of suggestions were considered, the name of San Antonio Spurs was selected. The reasoning behind the new name was that it represented the western heritage of Texas, a crisp, professional looking logo could be easily adopted, and the "Spurs" name was short enough for extensive use by the media.
Prior to the 1976-77 season, the Spurs, along with Nets, Nuggets, and Pacers, joined the NBA. For more details, including a year-by-year account of Spurs history, read San Antonio Spurs Franchise History.
Home Courts
| Arena | Years | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| HemisFair Arena | 1973-1993 | |
| Alamodome | 1993-2002 | |
| AT&T Center | 2002-present | Formerly SBC Center |
Retired Numbers
| Number | Player |
|---|---|
| 00 | Johnny Moore |
| 6 | Avery Johnson |
| 13 | James Silas |
| 32 | Sean Elliott |
| 44 | George Gervin |
| 50 | David Robinson |
